25 Days of Holiday Craziness Completed

This whole taking five photos a day was a wee bit adventurous for one working mom like myself. Let's say I didn't get it done, but I did figure out a photo for each day and I, of course, wouldn't want to disappoint you without completing the project, so here I go.....

December 10th

I bought six fabulous holiday cookies and thought how cute would that look if I was trying to make a cookies for Santa photo. Since Christmas is still fifteen days away, I happily consumed it for Santa. I can't say that I needed the calories more than Santa either!

December 11th

It was a weekend of scrapbooking bliss with some of my scrapbooking friends...Angie, Amy and Kristi. We are wearing red waxed lips that were leftover from our last crop. We are always creating photo opportunities to scrap, of course!
December 12th

We attended A Christmas Tale performed at Calvary Community Church, which our neighbor kids (the Blacks) each were a part of. They are one cute family and we are fortunate to be their neighbor!
December 13th

I caught my co-worker, Katie, confiscating computer mice and gaming controls from my classroom. Oh, 'tis the season of naughtiness! BTW, she wasn't taking them away from me! ;)
December 14th

Andy and I went shopping by ourselves and it was incredibly peaceful. I found ready to eat fruitcake on the shelves of Hy-Vee and asked Andy to hold it up for a photo. Think of the possible titles for this picture?
December 15th

This is what it's like to go shopping with a teenage boy...not a lot of conversation going on.
December 16th

I don't have permission to take this child's photo, so I deleted his face. I thought it was sweet that he brought his homemade nativity set made by his grandma for Show and Tell. I so love when kids want to share their stories with the class. Such a proud moment for a five year old!
December 17th

It's the Campbell Christmas party at Rosie's house. I did take a picture of Rosie (the hostess) and many of her beautiful home, but I knew my two blogging friends (Mindee and Tracey) would be the only ones to look at this blog. It only made sense to use their photos! ;)

December 18th

I couldn't decide, so I'm posting two photos. My sister, Jill, and her family stop by on their way to my parent's house to let their dog run around and to let the kids stretch their legs. Jill is newly engaged and marrying a very nice man named Mirvin. This is Mirvin's son, Matthew, with Grant in the below photo. Aren't they the cutest?? Now Grant finally has a cousin that's just his age!

Then I needed to add the photo of Madison at the Nutcracker. I have been waiting for years to take her...just a mother/daughter bonding event. I can't say it was much to Madison's liking. She yawned a lot and said to me after the first applause, "So, there's no talking, huh?"
December 19th

I normally don't post my picture, but I thought this was a decent one of me. I love my new lime green vest from my parents. A vest from the Vest's....clever, huh?
December 20th

It's Girl Scout meeting night and the Cookie Train Car is complete. It is all totally the girls' idea and looks just like the girls made it, which is should. You should see our competition, some look like architects constructed theirs! I'll post pictures after the event on December 30th.
December 21st

I couldn't find much to photograph, but is this not the prettiest present? It's a watch for Madison that I bought at my new favorite store called Blu Velvet. I heart that shop!!
December 22nd

Yup, you got it. Tattoo time once again. Little did I know that foot tattoos fade and sometimes need to be re-done. So, I scheduled the tattoo project after my last day of work, so I could recoup over break. Nothing says the holidays like a new tattoo! LOL
December 23rd

We did some holiday light driving in Lincoln. This particular house made the news and definitely resembles the Griswold's house in my book! I wonder how much their electric bill spikes for the month of December?
December 24th

We spent our first Christmas Eve alone this year. We knew that we were, so we eagerly (okay, I eagerly) signed up the whole family to usher at the 6:30 service. We go to a very big church with five Christmas Eve services. We were expecting to serve about 5,000 people since last year's record was around 4,300 with extremely bad weather.
December 25th

I chose this photo since I thought it was a wonderful idea of Grandpa's. Grandpa Tracy had five coffee cups full of change just lying around his house and he graciously gave each grandkid a mug. The rule is that each grandchild must take their change and find a way to help someone else. They can't keep it. The money could be given to a food pantry, purchase a gift for a child off of a wishing tree or simply put it in the kettle for the Salvation Army. Each grandkid is suppose to report next Christmas what they did with the money. The coffee mugs had approximately $44 - $53 in each of them.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!